The present invention relates to health care articles and in particular to apparatus used by patients for transfer into and out of bed.
A wide variety of bed mounted frameworks have previously been used as traction support frames on hospital beds, and as devices for transferring patients into and out of bed. However, even though a wide variety of designs for such apparatus have been developed, these apparatus are typically designed for hospital or institutional use and therefore are adapted to be used only with a hospital-type bed. Such structures must be secured to the bed frame in some fashion in order to utilize the frame itself as a supporting base. Typically, these apparatus include one or two horizontal bars that extend the length of the bed and are spaced above the mattress. These horizontal bars join with vertical posts that are either bolted to the headboard and footboard, or may be clamped or bolted onto the legs of the bed. As will be recognized, such attachments require that a particular style of bed frame be provided, and normally a hospital-type bed with a tubular frame.
Most existing apparatus are therefore limited in the type or design of bed that the apparatus can be used with. Such conventional apparatus normally cannot be used with a typical household bed, which prevents the patient from using his or her own bed even after the patient has left the hospital.
As previously noted, most conventional bed access or exercise apparatus include one or two horizontal bars that extend the length of the bed and are secured both at the head and foot ends of the bed. These overhead bars provide the patient with a handhold in order to shift himself toward the side of the bed, or may be used to perform various exercises while lying on the bed. To assist in the exercise function many other accessories can be secured to the overhead bars, such as a trapeze, straps or the like that provide a handhold that is easier for the patient to reach.
Such apparatus are generally satisfactory for exercise, traction and the like while the patient is on the bed. However, since the overhead bars are normally centered over the bed and spaced away from the bedside, these apparatus often do not provide sufficient assistance to the patient for getting into or out of the bed. This is particularly the case, for example, when a patient is wearing a cast or the like that immobilizes both the hip and knee joints. Although the person can draw himself to the edge of the bed and swing his feet to the floor, no firm handhold is provided to allow the patient to pull himself upright to a standing position. The same is true for the reverse operation of getting into the bed.
Although some previous bed access devices have used an overhead cantilevered beam or the like that extends laterally to the overhead bars, such beams have normally been used as a track for mechanical lifting devices. These devices actually hoist the patient out of the bed and carry the patient to the bedside. Such devices have not provided an overhead bar that the patient can use himself in order to get into and out of bed. Further, since such devices provide a mechanical guide track that extends at the same height as the overhead bars, the lateral guide track is generally too low to provide a handhold alongside the bed which does not obstruct walking around the bed or the locating of a wheelchair alongside. If the lateral guide track is high enough so as to not obstruct the side of the bed, the bar would be too high to be reached by a person while lying on the bed.
For these reasons, many patients have been forced to rely upon either a mechanical device or another person to assist them into and out of bed, which often adds to the confined or dependent feelings they may be already experiencing due to their condition.